Fire Emblem: The Hero of Shadow
by Ramix
Summary: There is not a soul who does not know of Marth, Hero King and Savior. But there are few who know that person, the Hero King's friend and bodyguard, the leader of the Seventh Platoon of Altean Knights. This is the story of the Hero of Shadow, the Seventh Platoon, and their battles throughout the War of Heroes.
1. Prologue

**Welcome to the prologue for Fire Emblem: Hero of Shadow. This will (hopefully) be my first multi-chapter fanfiction project, and will be a novelization of the game Fire Emblem: New Mystery of the Emblem Heroes of Light and Shadow. I will, for the most part, go along with plot events and try to keep everything as canon as possible, but I will take a few creative liberties. Most notably, I will be changing around Kris' personality, and giving him a couple extra plot developments to the point that he might as well be an OC, but I believe this is excusable since that is more-or-less the role that Kris serves within the game, and has little personality of his own. I will be adding one actual OC to the story, but his impact on the plot will largely be limited to Kris and Katarina's arc, and any changes I make will _not _affect the overall plot of the original game (too much at least). As the title and summary implies, this will focus mostly on the Seventh Platoon, especially Kris and Katarina. If any of what I have mentioned up to now bothers you, feel free to stop reading, if it doesn't bother you, feel free to read it, and I hope you love it and/or provide me with constructive criticism so that I can improve.**

**Thanks in advance, and I sincerely hope that you enjoy this fanfic. **

**(On a side-note, I wasn't going to post this for some time, but I decided to post it in honor of Robin and Lucina being confirmed for Smash Bros. GET HYPE!)**

**P.S. Don't expect updates to be regular, or fast.**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Fire Emblem, or any of the characters used here, you already know all this. **

**-Ramix**

* * *

The halls of her home were almost pitch black. There was not a single torch to be found along the long and narrow corridors, nor where there any windows to allow the light of the surface to enter her bleak little world. This was not a problem for Eine, nor was it a problem any of her brothers and sisters. _She _was their light, what more could they possibly ask for? They were all worthless children that no one else had wanted, that had been thrown out into a cold, cruel world. It would be ungrateful of them to even expect anything more than what she had already given them.

This was the reason why Eine was running through the halls so quickly that her legs hurt. Her breath came out in short gasps and she sweat like a pig despite the cold of her home. Her violet cape fluttered behind her as she flailed her arms, and her thigh-high boots clung to her legs like a second skin. At last, she reached the door to Lady Eremiya's room, as she took a second to breath and push a lock of stray purple hair out of her eyes, Eine could hear faint chatter between Lady Eremiya and someone else behind the closed doorway.

"Yes, Master, all is going according to plan. We shall soon be ready."

"Have you prepared a suitable candidate? Be sure you get this right, if you succeed then we can nip the prince in the bud before he has the chance to interfere with my plans again. Do not fail me."

Eine slowly slid open the door, careful not to interrupt her mistress, and stepped inside just as Lady Eremiya's superior vanished in a flash of red light. The room in which the matron conducted her personal business was small and plain, several cabinets and chests laid upon the walls across the room, and a single golden throne stood in the center. Eremiya turned around to face Eine with a warm smile on her face.

"Lady...Eremiya...you called for me?" Eine asked in between breaths.

Eremiya walked up to Eine and gently laid a hand on the side of her face. Eine recoiled for a second before relaxing.

"Look at you, Eine, you were in such a hurry to heed my call that you're out of breath. Perfect. If only the rest of my children were so grateful."

"My lady, we all love you, truly, we do. I can only ask that you give all of my brothers and sisters the chance to prove their love, like you have done with me."

Eremiya erupted into jovial laughter and clasped her hands together. "Oh my dear girl: loyal, smart, respectful, polite, and kind as well, you are such a wonderful child. Oh yes, you were definitely the right choice for this mission."

Eine beamed at the praise and looked up with bright eyes at her mistress. "My lady, what would you ask of me? I promise, I will not fail you."

"Oh, I know you won't." Eremiya's warm smile vanished in an instant, leaving a cold grimace and a frightening stare as she bent down to look directly into Eine's eyes.

"Because if you do..." Like a wild animal pouncing on it's prey, Eremiya's hands shot up and gripped Eine's hair, the young woman winced in pain and let out a small whimper in spite of herself. "...Then I will have no choice but to punish you."

"I won't disappoint you, my lady." Eine squeaked out, trying to mask her pain.

As quickly as it had appeared, Eremiya's viciousness had vanished, and her face became a cold, emotionless mask as she released Eine's hair and turned around to walk towards one of the chests in the room. Eine stumbled for a second, and quickly scrambled to get back on her feet before Lady Eremiya could see her weakness, blinking and rubbing away tears that had begun to form in her eyes.

"Your mission, Eine..." Eremiya pulled out a key from the folds of her robes and opened a chest "...Is to assassinate Prince Marth of Altea. You will have back-up on this mission, but you are to direct it alone, and you are fully responsible for making sure it succeeds.."

Eine's eyes widened in shock. Assassinate Prince Marth? She had been tasked with killing nobility before, but it had always been as backup to Kleine, and each of her targets had been vulnerable, away from their usual security. Assassinating the Hero Prince of Altea would be...

"H-how will I do it?" Eine asked meekly.

"That is up to you Eine." Eremiya pulled a long silk scarf out from the chest, it was a deep purple that matched Eine's orchid and indigo outfit. "I chose you for this not because you are the strongest of my children, but because you are the smartest. Put that mind of yours to use, I will provide you with the resources you need, and you will formulate and execute a plan to kill the Prince. Have I made myself clear?"

Eine shuddered in spite of herself. This was beyond her, she wasn't ready for such a mission, but if she told her mistress that now...

"I-I'll do it. I will not fail."

Eremiya smiled warmly once again, wrapping the scarf around Eine's neck. "I know you won't my dear, and should you ever falter, or lose your way: think of this scarf..." She tightened the scarf around Eine's neck to the point of suffocating the young girl. "...It is my embrace. Let that be your motivation."

Eine's hands grasped at the scarf to loosen it. "Y-yes my lady."

* * *

A young man stood in the courtyard of his home. His family's abode was certainly not the largest in Altea, but it was still much bigger than most of the other houses in the village. His three story home was made of stone, unlike most of the other houses in his village which were made of wood, the courtyard took up more space than some of the houses in the village, and was filled with training equipment, a reward for several generations of loyal service and knighthood. The man, Luke, unsheathed his sword and gazed at it for a few seconds. He saw his reflection on the blade and grinned. Deep blue eyes, dark green hair, nice nose, a winning smile, killer biceps, and soon he'd be a knight, too. The ladies would be running to him in packs. Luke's grin faded as he failed to convince himself that that was the reason he was training to become a knight.

Grunting, Luke walked over to the nearest training dummy and swung his sword in a wide arc, decapitating it with one swing.

Luke groaned. "This is boring, I don't get why I have to waste my time with these things, it's not like I'm gonna learn anything from hitting a wooden doll."

Just then, he heard the sound of grunting accompanied by the familiar '_swoosh'_ of a weapon being swung. With his interest piqued, Luke looked at his house and checked for any signs that his parents might have woken up from their nap, when he was satisfied that he wouldn't be caught he jumped over his fence and set out in search of his future training partner.

After walking down the streets of his village for a few minutes, Luke found his target. The young knight-in-training was tall, almost as tall as Luke, he had rich brown hair and deep brown eyes and was training in full armor, he wore ornate green plate mail that seemed truly fit for a knight, and he swung around an iron lance, thrusting and sweeping at thin air. His stern expression showed that he was far more serious about his training than Luke was and judging by the home that he was standing in front of, a small wooden shack, Luke figured that the potential knight wasn't from a particularly wealthy family.

_So, a poor family spends their money on equipment for their son so that he can go out and become a knight to raise the family's standing. A good reason if I've ever heard one._ Luke thought.

Luke approached the young man, but the man's head snapped up before he could say anything.

"What do you want, I'm a bit busy right now."

"Hey, there's no need for hostilities, buddy. The name's Luke, Luke Edelson. I couldn't help but hear you training, and I figured that since I'm also training, we could probably learn more if we worked together."

The young trainee lowered his lance and relaxed his posture, his expression softened at last, though not very much. "I see...so you're training to become a knight as well, then?"

Luke smiled. "That's right, so what better way for two future knights to practice than by sparring with each other?"

The young man contemplated this for a moment before nodding and turning around to walk back into his house.

"Huh? Hey, where are you going?!" Luke reached out, but the young man soon stepped back outside, he had taken off his armor, and was carrying two wooden weapons in his arms, a sword and a lance, he tossed the sword to Luke and spun the lance around before assuming a combat-stance. Luke caught the sword in his hand and tested it's weight a bit before mirroring his opponent.

"Before we begin," Said Luke, rolling his shoulders in preparation. "Why don't you tell me your name?"

"Rody, my name is Rody Arbeit."

Luke grinned. "You know, Rody, this could be the beginning of something great. A rivalry that's gonna go down in histo-"

Luke was cut off as Rody swung his lance towards him, the knight-to-be barely managed to bring his blade up to block.

"Perhaps you should focus more on the fight before you start thinking about going down in history."

"Oh, this is gonna be awesome!"

* * *

Ryan took a deep breath, aimed his bow, and let the arrow loose, he missed the bull's-eye by a couple inches and released the breath he was holding in as a sigh of relief. He was improving.

The young man had short green hair, along with a face and stature that made him look much younger than a seventeen-year-old boy had any right to be. He wore light leather armor with a single piece of plate mail covering his heart, and was adjusting his bow as he trained to become a knight of Altea, he shared all of these traits with his older brother, Gordin. While most people in his position would've been unhappy about this, Ryan didn't resent his brother at all. Quite the opposite, in fact, he believed it was an honor to be following in his brother's footsteps; Altea's master of bows who had helped Prince Marth save the world from the Shadow Dragon, he was proud to be living up to that legacy.

Well, at least he was attempting to live up to that legacy. Ryan took another deep breath, and aimed his bow at the target once again. This arrow was a bit closer to the bull's-eye but it wasn't quite there just yet. Ryan's shoulder slumped, as he compared the target to the one his big brother used. Thirteen arrows were stuck in the target, eight of them were perfect bull's-eyes, three of them were barely off by a centimeter, and the other two were off by a few inches, while most of Ryan's arrows had landed inches away from the bull's-eye. Ryan sighed, even if he _was _proud to be following in his brother's footsteps, it didn't mean it was going to be easy for him.

* * *

Cecille ducked to the side and threw a quick punch at her opponent's gut, her fist connected with the man's mid-section and the breath was knocked out of his lungs. As the man's hands went to his stomach, Cecille took advantage of the opening to send a punch towards his face, but her opponent revealed his feint and caught her fist in his much-larger hand. Cecille struggled to get loose, but she couldn't free her fist, meanwhile, the man swung his free hand to try and punch her in the face, but Cecille ducked just in time. Her opponent continued swinging wildly at her with his unoccupied hand while she kept on trying to free herself, to no avail. Eventually, the man grabbed Cecille's other hand, and spread her arms apart, with Cecille defenseless, the man threw his head back to headbutt her, but Cecille seized the opening to knee him in the stomach. This time, the man's reaction was real; he let go of both of her hands to clutch his stomach, while Cecille put her newly freed hands to use by slamming her knuckles on either side of the man's head. With her opponent disoriented, Cecille threw a kick, the sole of her boot connecting with the man's face, and he fell to the ground.

Cecille, the victorious red-haired beauty stood tall and proud over her opponent. A white cloth headband, soaked with sweat, was wrapped around her forehead, covered by a short fringe, and tied on the left side, the bow uncovered. Her crimson hair was styled to the right, covering her temple, and neatly framing her right eye, while the left side of her head was left near-completely uncovered, with only a short strand descending down to hang between her left temple and eye. She wore a baggy leather shirt and pants that had been her standard training gear for years, one of her sleeves had been ripped off, and her pants exposed her kneecaps.

"Alright, who's up next then?!" She roared, eager to continue fighting.

In response, a tall and lean man stepped forward, holding a wooden-training lance in each hand. He tossed one to Cecille, which she caught and twirled around before assuming a battle-stance. Her opponent wasted no time in charging her and thrusting his lance forward, which Cecille knocked aside with her own weapon, the lady warrior swung her lance downwards, but her opponent blocked with the shaft of his weapon and pushed her back, she recovered with ease and began thrusting her weapon quickly, trying to break through her opponent's guard, but he managed to block each of her blows expertly, though not without some struggle. Seizing an opening, her opponent swatted away Cecille's lance with his own then swiped at her head, Cecille countered with a swing from her own lance, but when the tips of the two weapon's collided, her wooden spearhead shattered.

With a gasp, Cecille leapt to avoid a sweep that aimed to knock her off her feet. Glaring at her broken weapon, she grunted before brandishing it once again, daring her opponent to attack her.

"You can't be serious." He said, before whipping his own lance forward. When Cecille maintained her stance, her opponent shrugged and started charging at her. "If that's the way you want it, who am I to deny you a loss?"

Cecille charged at her opponent in spite of her damaged weapon, but before they could clash, she stabbed her broken weapon into the ground and used it to vault forward, kicking her opponent in the face. As Cecille's kick connected with his face, her opponent fell to the ground and his weapon went flying out of his hands, she grabbed it as she landed and pointed the tip at her opponent's throat, she smiled victoriously as her foe got up and walked away.

A middle-aged man with a white beard approached her next. In his hands were two wooden training swords, one of which he tossed to Cecille, who caught it after tossing away the lance.

"Think you're ready, Cecille?" The man spun the sword in his hand and entered a battle stance.

"When you are, Father." Cecille took her own one-handed stance and charged at her father, their weapons clashed mid-way.

Cecille knew full well how skilled her father was, he had taught her everything she knew, so as she met her father blow for blow, dodging what she couldn't parry, she was fully aware that she wouldn't last in a prolonged fight against him. Cecille saw a chance and seized it, as her father drew his sword back for a slash that would surely destroy her own weapon, she jumped over him and avoided the attack, she somersaulted and landed behind her father, and as he turned around, Cecille hit him right above the heart with the tip of her weapon. Her father looked down in confusion for a second, then he looked up at Cecille and smiled.

"My daughter, my dear daughter, you have grown beyond even my wildest hopes. You have defeated me, and both of your brothers, I know now without a doubt that you will become the greatest knight our family has ever seen. Remember this however, many of the men will look down on you, but you must ignore them, and become a great paladin of Altea!" Her father punctuated his point by pounding his fist into his palm.

"Ha! Forget about ignoring them," Her younger brother came up behind her, rubbing his temples where she had hit him. "Just kick their butts like you did to us!"

Her elder brother also approached her, carrying the two discarded training spears. "Yes, but maybe you should save that for the enemies of our kingdom."

"Enemies?" Her younger brother scoffed. "What enemies?"

"While we may be at peace now, there is no telling when war will erupt again." Cecille's father turned to her. "That is why it is important that you become a great knight Cecille, so that when Altea's time of need arrives, you can be there help us."

Cecille nodded and beamed with pride. "Just watch me, I'll become the greatest knight Altea has ever known, and if any man doubts me, I'll just prove 'em wrong!"

* * *

A young man sat alone in the kitchen of his home, eating a loaf of bread. He was tall, well built, and he had a pale complexion, with messy, pitch-black hair that went down to his neck in the back, while the unkempt and pointed tips covered his eyes and ears. His name was Kris, and he stood up as he swallowed the last bite of his lunch and gulped down a glass of water; he had just finished his bi-daily training routine: three-hundred push-ups, eighty sit-ups, an hour of jogging to-and-from the forests and his home, and an hour of practicing his sword-play; a grueling training regimen that his grandfather, a former knight of Altea, had drilled into him.

Kris walked to his room and approached the mirror, he opened up one of his drawers and pulled out a small, ornate, silver hairpin encrusted with several small jewels. He pulled up his hair with one hand and stuck the pin in his hairline with the other, in an instant, his messy hair had stood and spiked up, pulling all the hair out of his eyes and ears and styling it into several spikes pointing away from him, uncovering his piercing golden eyes and leaving the small pin concealed by his hair. The hairpin had been a trinket that his grandfather had bought for him when he asked for it under the pretense of getting his hair out of his face for training, in truth, Kris just thought his hair looked good spiked up.

After getting his hair ready, Kris began putting on his combat equipment. Most of it he was already wearing: a thick blue shirt with that split in two down the middle to reach down and cover his legs, stopping just above his knees and accented with yellow lines, a blue scarf, light blue pants. leather boots, a single leather glove on his right hand, a belt with a small leather pouch attached, and a leather harness over his shirt. Kris reached into a trunk and pulled out the pieces of armor that his grandfather had bought for him, he attached a small steel breastplate to the leather harness, adding armor over his pectorals, and then he took out a pair of bronze pauldrons and put them on either shoulder, finally, Kris unsheathed the large steel sword that his grandfather had commissioned especially for him in order to celebrate his departure to apply as a knight of Altea, admiring the blade.

After giving Kris his sword, his grandfather prepared a large meal for them both and wished him the best of luck in becoming a knight, then went to sleep. The next morning, Kris' grandfather did not awaken.

After finishing his preparations, Kris sheathed his blade again and stuck it on his back, then began trekking towards the nearby forest where thirteen years ago, Kris had stood together with his grandfather, wielding a sword for the first time in his life.

_Kris struggled to regain his balance after hefting up the massive iron sword that his grandfather had given to him in order to begin his training at the tender age of eight years. _

"_Grandpa, there's no way I can wield this thing, it's huge!"_

_Kris' grandfather, Sir Maclir, chuckled. "Nonsense, I've seen people half my size wield swords twice my size, so don't start using your being small as an excuse." In truth, the iron sword was relatively small, but to an eight-year-old child, anything would seem massive. "Besides, you said you wanted to get stronger didn't you? I seem to recall that you swore an oath to me, don't tell me you've already forgotten it." _

_Kris shook his head vigorously. "Become Altea's sword, acquire unbreakable strength and loyalty. That's what you told me to do, and I promised I'd do it, but how am I supposed to get any stronger if I can't even swing this thing?"_

"_Nonsense, just do as I say and you'll grow to be the mightiest knight Altea has ever known. Now, you see that tree?" Maclir pointed at a large and sturdy tree right behind Kris, who had to crane his neck as far as he could just to see the top of it. "I want you to cut down that tree."_

_Kris' jaw dropped. "What?! How am I supposed to do that when I can't swing this sword?"_

"_Don't be silly, of course you can swing it, now turn around and cut that tree down in one swing."_

_Kris grit his teeth and hefted the large weapon onto his shoulder, then used all of his strength to slash at the tree. To his surprise, Kris managed to swing the sword and hit the tree, but he barely managed to cut through the bark. Kris dropped the sword and hung his head in shame._

"_I couldn't do it..."_

"_That's right." Said his grandfather in a kind tone. "Do you know why?"_

_Kris' shoulders slumped and he sat down on the ground. "Because I'm weak?"_

"_Yes, right now, you are weak." Maclir put his hands on his hips. "But when I'm done training you, you won't be weak anymore. I want you to remember this moment, because when your training is complete and you've become strong, you will come back here and cut down that tree, and you will see how much stronger you've become. Understood?"_

_Kris looked up at his grandfather in awe for a moment before getting to his feet and straightening his posture, his eyes narrowed in determination. "Yes, I understand grandfather!"_

"_Good!" Maclir beamed with pride and turned around to pull out two wooden practice sword from a bush, tossing one of them to Kris. "Until you can wield a real blade, we'll practice with these. First things first, we've got to teach you how to properly hold one of these and work on your stance."_

Now, Kris was alone in the forest, in front of his grandfather's headstone, standing on the ground where he had buried the man who had raised him, cared for him, taught him, and molded him into what he was today. Kris turned around and unsheathed his sword, then stared at the tall and sturdy tree that he had failed to cut down when he had first started training. Kris knelt down to examine the cut he had made, even though the tree had continued to grow, he could still see the faint mark on the bark of the tree. Getting to his feet and gripping his sword with both hands, Kris swung his blade and hit the tree right where he had cut all those years ago, this time his blade tore through it in one clean slice. Then as the large trunk began descending, Kris slashed upwards and cut the tree in two, and with a jump back and another upwards slice, he cut the tree into three neat pieces, which fell to the ground around him. Kris sheathed his sword and smirked.

"A fine blade, and the skills to use it, you've given me much grandfather. I'll be sure to put it to good use." Kris looked at the stump of the tree he had just cut down and chuckled. "And to think that I could barely even hit that thing before, I sure have grown. Watch over me old man, I'm going to make you proud!"


	2. Chapter 1

**Alright, so now we've arrived at my adaption of the first Prologue, and the meeting of Kris and Katarina. I would like to warn you all that the next chapter will take much longer to come out since I had a large part of this chapter written before I posted the prologue, and I haven't even started Chapter 2 yet. **

**Also I would like to inform my readers that I am an _absolute moron_ who forgot about his plans for the story while writing the introduction to the prologue. First of all, there will be two Ocs, not one, and one of them _will_ indeed have an effect on the overarching plot of the game, although the effects will mostly be either: a) limited to Kris' arc or b) things that happened in the game anyway. Secondly, I will be changing around a couple of things, as you will notice in this chapter, mostly dialogue, to make the story flow better, and to try and make parts of it sound less awkward. With that in mind, I suppose that this story could probably qualify as a mild AU. I am very sorry for this blunder, and once again ask that if you have a problem with this sort of writing in fanfiction, that you stop reading. **

**And on that less-than-pleasant note, I hope you enjoy Chapter 1 of Fire Emblem: The Hero of Shadow.**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Fire Emblem, or any of the characters, except the aforementioned original ones. This is the last time I will be putting this thing in my author's notes because, as I said last time, you already know all of this. **

**-Ramix**

* * *

Eine took a deep breath as she approached the training grounds; in a few minutes she would have to take up a new identity, and begin the most important mission of her entire life. Eine went through every single detail of her plan over and over again in her head: her new name would be Katarina, the name of a young girl she had met once, if anyone asked, Katarina was a simple girl from Knorda who wasn't very capable in combat, but was training to become a tactician. These two facets of her new identity were most important, one of the first things she had learned as a tactician was that the best way to make someone else believe your lies is to believe them yourself. By blending aspects of her true identity with her false persona, she would be able to create a believable ruse.

The plan to assassinate the Prince was relatively simple, at least, in theory: she would rely on trickery and the assistance of others to get her through the training process without having to reveal any of her magical capabilities, then when the time came for Prince Marth to knight her and her fellow trainees, she would put all the guards to sleep with a drug that Kleine had provided for her, and call in her brothers that had been assigned to help her on this mission to kill the Prince and the rookie knights. Should all else fail, she would reveal her magical prowess and kill Prince Marth herself. The plan wasn't perfect by any means, but it was the best she could think of. The most difficult part would be making it to the day of the assassination.

Eine was pulled from her thoughts when she heard someone calling her name, she turned around and noticed Kleine hiding in the shadow of one of the castle battlements. Panicking, Eine rushed to meet her sister.

"What are you doing here? Is something wrong? You shouldn't be here, if someone saw you it could ruin everythi-" Kleine silenced her by placing a finger to her lips.

"Shhhhhhh, no need to get so excited, Eine. I'm hurt, I thought you would've been happy to see your big sister, and to think that I came all this way to wish you luck, too." The tall blond woman put on a pout and sad look that Eine had long since learned to recognize as fake.

"I-I'm happy to see you, and thank you for wishing me luck, but you can't be here right now!" Eine whispered, looking around to see if anyone had noticed them. Fortunately, most of the incoming trainees were already gathering in the courtyard.

"Oh, on the contrary little sister, I _can_ be here, in fact, I have to be here, I was sent here along with Legion to provide support for you." Kleine grinned wickedly, while Eine's eyes widened in shock.

"You were sent here by Lady Eremiya? Why?"

"Oh we're just some backup, you don't have to worry about us stealing your glory on this mission. There are some roaming bandit gangs around here, we're going to arm them properly and point them in the direction of some small villages so that they can wreak some havoc. That way, if the Prince _does_ start suspecting an attempt on his life, it'll be from the outside, not the inside. We're also supposed to pull you out and bring you back in one piece if things start going badly for you." She explained, casually leaning on a wall and adjusting one of her black gloves.

"Sh-She sent you to rescue me?" Eine asked, hopefully.

Kleine grinned. "Of course she did, Eine. Lady Eremiya would never let one of her children die on a mission. How is she supposed to punish a corpse?"

Eine gulped and touched her scarf, remembering what her mistress had said to her when she had wrapped the scarf around her neck.

"Well, that's all I had to say, good luck again Eine. Oh, and you might want to hurry up, it looks like most of the trainees have already arrived, you don't want to be late." Kleine giggled and dashed away, leaving Eine to stand alone in the shadows, trembling.

After a moment of contemplating her situation, and what would happen to her if she failed her mission, Eine dashed off for the training grounds, still shaking in fear. As she ran towards the castle gate Eine ran every detail of her plan through her mind once again. As is the case with several tacticians, Eine's life would eventually be saved by her meticulous planning, for if she had not been deep in thought at the time, she might never have crashed into another young knight-in-training.

* * *

Kris walked leisurely towards the Altean castle gates with a smile on his face. Soon, he thought, he would become a knight of Altea, just like he and his grandfather had always wanted. As he drew closer and closer to his goal, Kris' enthusiasm got the better of him and he broke into a run, eager to take the first step on his journey to knighthood. In his enthusiasm, Kris failed to notice a short, purple-haired young woman who was also running towards the castle gate, and crashed into her.

The young woman let out a loud squeal as she and Kris crashed to the floor, while Kris merely grunted. The two scrambled to their feet, and Kris extended his hand to help the girl up as soon as he was on his feet.

"Woah there, are you okay?" The young girl ignored Kris' outstretched hand and got to her feet by herself, shivering and looking around nervously.

When the young girl stopped shaking and turned to look at Kris, he was finally able to get a clear look at her; she had a young, pretty face and wide lilac-colored eyes, and her purple hair was cut short, giving her an innocent appearance. Her outfit was relatively simple, but still eye-catching: an indigo and orchid colored top with short, puffy sleeves that had a yellow trimming, a miniskirt and thigh-high boot combination that showed off her thighs, and small cape that reached down to her the back of her knees. She also had a purple scarf wrapped tightly around her neck.

"I-I'm sorry, I was in a hurry and..." After looking at Kris, the girls eyes widened and she seemed to regain her composure, putting on a friendly smile. "Excuse me, did you come here to become an Altean Knight as well?"

Kris thought that the girl in front of him wasn't the most promising knight candidate he had ever seen, but he decided to keep that thought to himself and return her friendly smile. "Yep, I came here all the way from Sera village when I heard they were recruiting new knights. The name's Kris."

"Kris, that's a nice name. We're here for the same reason, then. My name is Katarina." She said with a slight bow. "I came because I wish to serve Prince Marth." Katarina frowned. "But there sure are a lot of hopefuls here, like those two over there." The young mage gestured at two young-men in full armor on horseback, one wearing bright blue and the other wearing light green, if Kris hadn't know any better, he could have mistaken them for fully-fledged knights.

In the distance the blue-armored, green-haired cavalier was smiling triumphantly. "This is it! This is where my shining legacy will begin! The first chapter of my epic saga to become Altea's greatest knight!"

The green-armored, brunette cavalier to his right rolled his eyes. "Luke, I'm going up ahead." The cavalier rode off without another word.

"Hey, wait up, Rody! Don't leave your partner behind!" Yelled the flabbergasted young man before chasing after his partner.

Kris saw the two from a distance and rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "There's no doubt those two were knight candidates like us." Obviously, he had not heard their conversation, for if he had, then there would have been doubt.

Katarina nodded and turned to look at him. "We should follow them, Kris. I think the leader of the Altean Knights, Sir Jagen, has something to say to all of us." With that, Katarina took off towards the courtyard. Kris trailed after her, not even pausing to consider why he was following a girl he had just met.

* * *

The pair arrived at the training grounds with the rest of the potential recruits, Kris stopped to gaze in awe at the sheer number of would-be-knights before being beckoned over by Katarina to line up at the front of the crowd. In front of them stood several lance-wielding soldiers in full cerulean Altean plate-mail lined up in a row behind Sir Jagen; Altea's oldest knight, who had supported Prince Marth throughout the War of Shadows. The commander of the Altean Knights sat atop his steed, clad in ornate magneta armor. Spikes protruded from his shoulder plates, giving the old warrior an intimidating appearance.

With a booming voice that reached every single apprentice knight in attendance, Jagen addressed the crowd. "Altea's gates have opened today so that we may test you as potential knights. Now apprentices, I want you to gather in pairs, you will be facing real Altean knights in mock combat! Get to it, then!"

Kris turned his head to Katarina, who had a panicked look in her eyes as she turned to face him. "Huh?! We have to fight? Th-this could be a problem..."

Kris failed to hold back a chuckle. "You came here to become a knight, but you don't know how to fight?"

Katarina blushed and looked down. "I'm training to become a strategist..." Katarina looked up at Kris with a hopeful look in her eyes. "...Kris would you please be my partner?"

Kris tilted his head and crossed his arms. "You're a strategist?"

Katarina nodded. "Y-yes, I can give you advice on how to fight, but I can't fight at all..."

Kris rubbed his chin, then nodded and stretched his hand out towards Katarina with a huge smile on his face. "Well as it just so happens, I'm a great fighter, but I'm not very bright, so I guess that makes us a perfect match." Katarina hesitantly reached out to shake his hand, but was interrupted by one of the knights.

"Hey you two! You're up next. Grab your weapons and get into position. Hurry up!" Said the soldier, planting the shaft of his spear into the ground.

"Got it. Let's go Katarina, our test is about to start!" Kris' smile grew even wider, and he grabbed a confused Katarina by the wrist, dragging her over to the training area. bending down to pick up a wooden training sword from a pile on the ground along the way.

Halfway to their destination, Katarina regained her wits and smiled. "Y-yes!" She spoke with enthusiasm for the first time since Kris had met her. "Let's do our best!"

As the pair approached the training area, the soldier stepped forward and gripped his wooden lance in both hands. Katarina took a few steps back, while Kris stepped forward, stopping a few feet away from the soldier, whose gaze shifted back and forth between Kris and Katarina.

"Your partner won't be fighting alongside you, apprentice?" He asked Kris, somewhat disbelievingly.

Kris shrugged. "She's more of a thinker than a fighter, so I'll be fighting hard enough for the both of us." Kris gripped his sword tightly with his gloved hand and assumed a fighting stance.

"So you'll be fighting me one-on-one? Seems rather unfair don't you think?"

"I agree." Kris smirked. "But since the rest of the soldiers are busy with the other recruits, you're on your own."

The soldier chuckled before leaping forward and thrusting with his spear. Kris deflected the blow with his sword and swung at the man's face, but his opponent blocked the attack with the shaft of his lance before pushing Kris away and attacking with a series of thrusts, which Kris parried.

Katarina yelled her instructions from behind him. "Kris, don't block, dodge!"

Deciding to place his trust in his new partner, Kris stopped deflecting the blows and dodged the soldier's thrusts, contorting his body, side-stepping, jumping, and ducking to avoid the attacks, occasionally bringing his blade up to block what he couldn't dodge.

"Find an opening!" Shouted Katarina.

Kris instantly understood what his partner was planning. In between the various thrusts, Kris noticed that his opponent had neglected to defend his legs, and so he swung his sword at his opponent's knees, but the soldier managed to bring his spear down to block just in time, leaving the two in a lock.

The soldier smirked. "Ha! It'll take more than simple tricks to beat me, kid."

In response, Kris grit his teeth and gripped his sword with both hands, using all of his strength to send the soldier's spear flying out of his hands, and quickly swung his sword at the man's neck, scoring a hit and winning the match. The soldier rubbed his neck and looked at his discarded spear, before turning to Kris with a smile on his face.

"Well done. Wait here until the rest of the trainees finish with their first bout."

"First?" Kris asked with a tilted head. "So who am I fighting against next?"

The guard chuckled. "Wouldn't want to spoil the surprise for you."

Kris shrugged and turned to face Katarina, who had run up to him with a beaming smile on her face. "We did it! Great job, Kris!"

Kris smiled back at her. "I should be thanking youfor that victory, your advice was a great help. It would've been much harder without you."

Katarina blinked a few times before smiling bashfully and looking down at the ground. "Thank you, but it was thanks to your strength and skill that we won. Now we just need to hope that it can get us through the rest of our test."

Kris nodded and the two of them sat down on the grass, deciding to watch the ongoing matches between the soldiers and the trainees.

"Look! It's those two guys from earlier!" Katarina pointed at the blue and green knights, who were currently locked in fierce combat with one of the soldiers.

The trainees outnumbered the man, but the soldier was expertly using both ends of his lance to stop attacks from spear and sword alike. Finally, the green-armored lance-wielding knight pinned the soldier's weapon to the ground using his own, and said something to his partner, who stabbed at the soldier's chest his sword, winning the match.

"They're good." Said Katarina.

Kris nodded in agreement before his eyes drifted to another trainee. "Woah, look at _her._" He said, pointing her out for Katarina.

A young woman with red hair and matching armor was facing a soldier by herself, her partner sat to the side with his weapon discarded, having been apparently defeated in combat. The soldier was thrusting and sweeping his lance with quick and precise movements, but the girl was jumping and weaving all throughout the battle-area, avoiding the strikes expertly. When she went on the offensive, she did so with quick slashes from her sword at various part of the soldier's body, but the man kept a steady stance and countered all of her blows using every part of his weapon. Even though the soldier was clearly having a hard time keeping up, the woman decided that she didn't want to wait for him to slip up and pressed the attack by leaping into the air. Somersaulting, she brought her blade down hard on the soldier, who brought his weapon up to block the wooden blade with the shaft of his weapon, but the girl used this as leverage to propel herself forward, and landed behind the guard. The red-haired girl spun around quickly and thrust her weapon forward to try to hit the man in the back, but he turned around just in time to catch the tip of her sword with the shaft of his spear. Unfortunately for the soldier, this left his lower-body wide open; with a sweeping kick from the young woman, the man fell to the ground and was immediately hit right in the chest by the girl's sword.

In the distance, Kris and Katarina watched the event unfold in awe, though Kris did a much better job of hiding it than Katarina, who was staring wide-eyed and slack-jawed.

"She's amazing...I really hope she doesn't give us any trouble..." Katarina muttered the last part, prompting Kris to raise his eyebrows and tilt his head in confusion.

"Why would she give us trouble?" He asked.

Katarina jumped at the question. "I-I mean, if we e-end up competing against other recruits to become knights, it could be bad, I wouldn't want to, I mean, I hope she's on our side, because if not she'd be trouble." She stammered.

"Oooh, I see. So you were just thinking of a strategy to beat her in case it came to that."

Katarina blinked a few times before nodding eagerly. "Yes! Yes, exactly! While it's true that she's very skilled, with someone as strong as you as my partner, I'm sure I'll be able to think of a way to defeat her."

"Well," Said Kris, placing a reassuring hand on his partner's shoulder. "I don't think we'll have to face off against fellow trainees, it seems like it'd go against the spirit of knighthood, if you ask me."

"Perhaps," Katarina returned her gaze to the victorious red-haired girl. "But a tactician must be prepared for every possibility."

Kris smiled. "Wow, you're really smart. I'm glad I got a genius like you as my partner."

Katarina cheeks turned bright red. "I-I'm not that great, really."

Before Kris could reassure her that she _was_, indeed, that great, Sir Jagen called all of them to return to the battle areas, as all of the matches had ended. Kris noticed that a few of his fellow trainees were walking away with their heads hung low, apparently they had lost their fights, and had been deemed unfit to be knights. As they approached the leader of the knights, they saw that he was flanked on both sides by several cavaliers atop their steeds, Kris even recognized a few famous knights from the War of Shadows. He and Katarina came to a sudden stop as realization sank in.

"Wait, are we going to-"

"Recruits!" Sir Jagen's booming voice cut Kris off. "We shall be your final opponents for today!"

Kris turned to Katarina who had a panicked look in her eyes. "We're going to be fighting against cavalry? Already?! Kris, do you think you can handle it?" She asked him, her worries were made clear by her tone.

Kris smirked confidently. "Of course I can." He said, puffing his chest up. "In fact, I relish the chance to test myself against veteran knights." As he said this, Sir Jagen himself approached them.

"Well then you're in luck, you won't find any knights more veteran than I am." He said, brandishing his training lance.

"Sir Jagen?" Katarina spoke up, already taking her position behind Kris. "Do you really expect new recruits to go up against seasoned knights? Will you be holding back?"

Jagen shook his head. "No, we will all be fighting with all our might, the point of this battle is for us to see first-hand what you're capable of. I took interest in you two, so I decided to go up against you myself. You are not expected to win this battle, nor are any of the other recruits."

Kris twirled his sword around in his hand before assuming a battle stance. "Is that so? Well then I apologize in advance for disappointing you."

Sir Jagen smirked. "Such youthful vigor, excellent! Show me what you've got!"

Whipping his steed forward, Jagen charged and swung his weapon at Kris, who brought his blade up to block the attack and side-stepped to make sure that the horse didn't crash into him. Sir Jagen kept moving forward and then circled around to strike at Kris again. This time, when Kris stopped the spear with his sword, the force of the blow nearly knocked him off his feet, forcing him to spend a moment readjusting his stance.

"Kris! Are you okay?" Katarina yelled from a distance behind him.

"I'm fine, have you got any ideas?" He yelled back, tightening his stance in anticipation of the next attack. Sir Jagen had once again retreated before circling around, and was now charging towards him at full-speed.

"We need to get him off of his horse, but I don't know how." Yelled Katarina, her eyes darting from her partner to the mounted knight as she tried desperately to think of a plan.

"Well, I think I've got an idea." Kris said before running forward to meet Jagen.

Katarina's eyes widened in confusion. "What? Kris, wait!" Katarina said, reaching out for her partner.

Kris gripped his sword tightly and swung it just as soon as Sir Jagen's horse came in range, only for the wooden blade to swing through the air as the horse leapt over him and continued charging straight towards Katarina, while Kris watched with a slacked jaw.

The young tactician panicked and began running away, trying to head towards her partner, while the grizzled old knight chased after her on horseback. It was obvious that he would catch her before long.

"Don't assume you're safe just because you're a strategist!" Shouted Sir Jagen from behind Katarina, beginning to close the distance between them.

Kris swore profusely as he ran toward Katarina, seeing Jagen draw his lance back to swing at her. He forced his legs to move faster and arrived just in time to deflect the paladin's lance with a one-handed swing of his sword, while his free fist shot out and punched the horse right in the face, confusing it and causing it to go wild for a few moments before Jagen calmed it down. Fortunately, those moments were all the time that Kris and Katarina needed to get to safety.

Kris shook his hand and made a mental note to start wearing gloves on both his hands before once again assuming a defensive stance. Katarina stood right behind him gasping for breath and almost clinging to his back.

"Thank you. I'm sorry for letting my guard down." She said in between breaths.

"No problem, but in the future, you should probably stick close to me. Have you thought of any way to get him on foot?" Asked Kris, tilting his head slightly in Katarina's direction, but making sure to keep his eyes on his opponent. The knight had already regained control of his steed and was starting to charge at them.

Katarina quickly regained her composure. "Actually, I just thought of something, wait for my signal." She instructed, her head held high and her eyes set into a determined glare.

Jagen drew his spear back as he neared the two apprentices to strike at them, when he noticed that neither of them made any attempt to move he was almost afraid that his horse would run them over, but just as he approached, the young tactician shouted "Now!" and the pair jumped to the side, while the swordsman stuck out his sword, causing his horse to trip over and send him flying to the ground. Jagen got to his feet as quickly as he could and regained his composure, but he noticed that his horse had gotten back on its feet and run out of the fighting arena, and was now being retrieved by some of the soldiers.

Jagen tightened the grip on his weapon and turned to face Kris. "Well, I must commend you on that stratagem, but I hope you realize that this battle is far from over."

Kris smirked and tightened his grip on his weapon. "Wouldn't have it any other way, sir."

The two warriors raced forward with their weapons pointing towards the ground and brought them up to clash as they met. Their weapons shook for a few moments as they struggled against each other before Sir Jagen forced Kris' sword to the ground.

"Duck!" Yelled Katarina, and Kris did so just in time to avoid a blow from the shaft of Jagen's lance heading towards his face, then jumped to avoid a sweep, and brought his sword up to parry a thrust. Kris tried to take advantage of this opening, but Jagen swatted his sword aside with his spear and continued attacking, only for Kris to continue blocking or avoiding his blows. The battle went on like this for a few moments, although to Kris it seemed like hours, before Jagen knocked Kris' sword out of his hands, prompting Katarina to gasp, before thrusting with his lance to finish the battle. Jagen's eyes widened in shock, however, when Kris caught the lance by the shaft with his own two hands.

Jagen narrowed his eyes. "Come now, do you truly expect to be able to win like this?" He asked, struggling to pull his lance free.

In response, Kris grit his teeth and pulled on the lance. "As a matter of fact, I do!" With that, Kris used every last ounce of strength in his body to lift the weapon, and Jagen, above his head and slam them both down onto the ground. By the time the old knight had recovered, the tip of his own weapon was already pressing against his chest. Kris had won the match.

Jagen got to his feet and shook his head. "I've been beaten?" The old knight let out a chuckle. "Well done."

While the knight got to his feet, Kris bent over and caught his breath, dropping the wooden lance and brushing the sweat off his forehead. "Phew...we won." He said in-between breaths.

"Yes," Said Jagen. "That was most splendid, your teamwork was excellent! I see that we can expect much from this year's apprentices." With that, the old knight walked away, rubbing his neck and muttering something about how he was getting too old to be fighting.

Katarina ran up to Kris with a wide smile. "You did it! We won, Kris!" She said, almost jumping for joy.

"_We_ did it." Kris corrected her, returning her smile.

Katarina's face turned bright red and she looked away. "But I didn't really do anything, it's all thanks to you that we won!"

Kris laughed and put his arm around her shoulders, causing the girl to let out a small surprised squeak. "Oh please, you mean to tell me that your brilliant plan to get him off of his horse was nothing? You should give yourself more credit."

Katarina's blush intensified as she tugged at her scarf. "T-thank you." She stammered, her voice barely above a whisper.

While they spoke, the rest of the training matches were ending. Unsurprisingly, most of the other trainees lost to the veteran knights. A few minutes later, all of the remaining trainees lined up in front of the castle gates, where Sir Jagen once again addressed all of them, the Prince of Altea himself stood a few paces behind him.

"Prince Marth wishes to address everyone who passed the test. Sire, if you please."

With this, Prince Marth stepped forward, clad in an ornate blue tunic with a flowing cape attached by a bright ruby-encrusted pin, and wearing a small crown over his blue hair.

"I humbly thank you all for coming." In spite of his ornate attire and regal appearance, Prince Marth's tone of voice, and the fact that he had chosen to stand on the training grounds to address the trainees, made it clear that his humility was genuine.

"He looks so majestic!" Said Katarina in awe, her tone suddenly became dark. "So that's the face of the hero who saved the world." Katarina's tone returned to normal as she looked at Kris. "I love the stories about Prince Marth from the war. Don't you, Kris?"

Kris smiled. "Of course. Prince Marth was the great hero who brought an end to the war and peace to the world, he defeated the Dark Pontifex and the Shadow Dragon. Those stories are part of the reason I came here."

Several of the other recruits carried on similar conversations until they were silenced by Sir Jagen, at which point, Prince Marth continued speaking with a friendly smile.

"Everyone, I am truly happy to see that so many of you have come to help shoulder Altea's future. With the war over, peace has returned to the land. However," Marth's smile dropped. "Peace isn't something we can simply take for granted. It is my duty, as a ruler, to risk my life to protect it. Alone, however, I am powerless. That is why from now on, I would like all of you to lend me your power, as my knights."

"Hear hear, Prince Marth!" Katarina suddenly exclaimed, prompting Kris and the rest of the recruits to follow her example.

With a smile, and a wave Prince Marth departed the training grounds followed by Sir Jagen, who dismissed all of the recruits, and the rest of his knights. Afterwards, a pair of soldiers led all of the trainees to the barracks, and showed them where they would be sleeping.

* * *

That night during dinner, Kris decided that the barracks' dining room was too crowded and noisy, and so decided to step outside with his dinner to eat under the stars. Since he hadn't seen Katarina in the dining room or the line for food, he assumed that she must've gone outside as well, and so decided to pick up an extra dinner tray for her in case he saw her. As he searched for a suitable spot on the grass to lie down and eat, Kris spotted a petite figure wearing a scarf in the distance, standing on top of a small hill with a great view. Recognizing his partner, Kris approached Katarina as she sent away what appeared to be a messenger pigeon.

"Hey there, you writing to your family?"

Katarina whirled around with a shriek and reached for something in her pocket before realizing that it was only Kris.

"Woah, woah, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to scare you! I was just curious." Kris said quickly, hoping that his partner wouldn't kill him on the first day of training.

Katarina quickly regained her composure and took a deep breath. "N-no, I should be apologizing for screaming like that, it's just that you startled me, thank goodness I didn't make you drop your...dinner." Katarina's eyes widened as realization sank in. "Oh no, I forgot to get my dinner! Oh, they've probably stopped giving out food by now and-"

Kris laid Katarina's worries to rest by holding out one of the two dinner trays. "Don't worry about it, I figured you must've forgotten so I grabbed you one."

Katarina smiled bashfully. "O-oh, thank you. That was very sweet of you." She said with a blush as she took the tray from his hands.

This time it was Kris' turn to blush. "I-it was nothing. Say," Kris suddenly recalled some very important lessons that his grandfather had taught him on a knight's code of chivalry. "I was actually about to lie down to eat my dinner here. Would you care to join me?"

"R-really?" Katarina stuttered. "W-wouldn't it be better to eat in the dining room."

"Well," Kris scratched at the back of his head. "It's pretty crowded in there, and since the stars are out and the air is cool tonight, I figured it'd be better to eat out here."

"The stars _do_ look lovely, and I don't really like the idea of eating dinner by myself..." Katarina paused to think for a second. "Ok I'll gladly accept your invitation" She answered with a bright smile. Katarina sat down on the grass with her food and Kris followed suit.

"It was wonderful hearing Prince Marth speak today, wasn't it, Kris?" Katarina asked conversationally.

"Yeah, it was. We'll have to do our best as his loyal knights." Kris answered. After this the pair ate in silence for a couple minutes.

"So, you were writing to your family?" Kris asked, trying to start up a conversation and break the awkward silence.

Katarina looked away as she answered. "Ah y-yes. I was telling them that everything had gone well on my first day. How about you? Did you write to your family?"

Kris frowned. "No, actually, my family's dead." He responded before taking a drink of water.

"R-really?" Katarina's eyes widened as she turned to face Kris. "Oh gosh, I-I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to-"

"Hey, easy now, you have nothing to apologize for. I'm not one for mourning anyway, I'd rather give it my all as a knight instead of crying about it." Kris said with a broad smile.

"Ah, I-I see." Katarina once again looked away from Kris. "So, if you don't mind me asking, what happened?" She asked nervously.

"Well, I was an orphan," Although Kris did not notice, Katarina stiffened upon hearing this. "But my grandfather took me in and raised me. He died a couple days ago, just before I came here to become a knight."

"I see, thank you for sharing this with me. I hope it didn't bring up any painful memories." Katarina said as she placed a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"No worries, I'm not one to dwell on the past." Kris said as he laid down with his hands behind his head to admire the stars, having finished his dinner quickly.

Katarina smiled. "I wish I could have a fraction of your strength."

"You can have it all." Kris said as he sat up to look Katarina in the eyes.

"P-pardon?" Katarina squeaked out.

"We're partners now, right? It's like I said earlier today during training; I'm not bright, but I'm a hell of a fighter, and you're a great strategist but you can't fight, so the two of us make a perfect pair! I'll tell you what, if you agree to be my master strategist, then I'll be your peerless warrior!"

Katarina chuckled. "Did you get that line from a book or something?"

Kris ignored her as he continued. "From this day forward, you guide my blade, and help me become the best knight I can be, and in return, I promise that I'll always protect you, and if you ever need my help, I'll be there to lend you my strength." Kris stood up as he finished his speech, stretching his hand out towards Katarina with a bright smile.

"So what do you think, partner?"

Katarina tried and failed to stifle a chuckle, which grew into a laugh, and eventually ended up guffawing while holding her sides and trying to catch her breath.

Kris tilted his head and groaned in annoyance. "Hey! I was trying to be serious!"

"I-I know, I'm really sorry, it's just," Katarina said between breaths as she slowly regained her composure. "This is the first time I've seen you so act so enthusiastic about anything, it's really adorable."

Kris blushed as he rubbed the back of his neck with the hand he had been holding out. "Well this is the first time I've heard you laugh, and it's also very adorable, so I guess we're even." Kris extended his hand once again and repeated his offer. "So, what do you think, partner?"

This time, Katarina took his hand and got to her feet with a beaming smile. "I think it sounds like a great plan, partner."

This was the first time that Eine truly became Katarina.


End file.
